West side of Peninsular dominates latest Malaysia squad

With state sentiments high in Malaysia, often forming the bulk of teams’ following, we at FourFourTwo thought we would spice up the rivalries with this analysis on where the latest national team squad hails from…

The number of players from a particular club that make up a respective national team squad often comes with considerable bragging rights – be it in England, Spain, Japan or Malaysia.

When Malaysian coach Ong Kim Swee named his new squad on Friday, it was fairly predictable there was a huge number of players from back-to-back Malaysia Super League (MSL) champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT).

In total the squad of 23 only comprised players from six MSL sides, but a closer look at the birth place of these players revealed a very different story.

To the West

The Western side of Peninsular Malaysia was the largest contributor with a hefty 16 players overall, the bulk of which came from Central and Northern Malaysia.

Kedah and Selangor were the biggest contributors to the national team. Four players – skipper Safiq Rahim, Amri Yahyah, S. Kunanlan and Azrif Nasrulhaq – were born in Selangor, while the Kedah-born quartet featured Amirul Hisyam Awang Kechik, Baddrol Bakhtiar, Farhan Abu Bakar and C. Chanturu